Just some interesting stats from Spotify's playcounts

Funky

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This is a fun piece of trivia - The Beatles' biggest song in the modern era was never even a single.


838M Here Comes The Sun
522M Come Together
473M Let It Be
447M Hey Jude
425M Yesterday

Their latter work is definitely more successful today - the biggest "early" Beatles song is I Want To Hold Your Hand (304M) but most of the other early classics don't come close to those numbers.

It can be fascinating seeing how today's listeners consume classic music...
 
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Whitney's biggest song on Spotify is not actually I Will Always Love You, but quite pleasingly I Wanna Dance With Somebody - by almost double the listenage.

814M I Wanna Dance
706M Higher Love
487M I Will Always Love You
284M I Have Nothing

Obviously Higher Love is skewed by being recent.
 
Whitney's biggest song on Spotify is not actually I Will Always Love You, but quite pleasingly I Wanna Dance With Somebody - by almost double the listenage.

814M I Wanna Dance
706M Higher Love
487M I Will Always Love You
284M I Have Nothing

Obviously Higher Love is skewed by being recent.
I’m not that surprised by that. “I wanna dance” is still played so much at parties and bars
 
I’m not that surprised by that. “I wanna dance” is still played so much at parties and bars

Yeah same here. It's position as a party favourite doesn't seem to have gotten stale.
 
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Despite the mammoth success of "Midnight Sky" and it helping to relaunch Miley, it has a long way to go to being her biggest song. In fact, it's not even her biggest song from that album.

962M Party In The USA
720M WE Can't Stop
649M Malibu
622M Wrecking Ball
613M Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (Mark Ronson)
527M Prisoner (with Dua Lipa)
458M Midnight Sky

I mean I knew she was big, but she's a certified Spotify monster.
 
George Michael seems to be driven by the US, where he is generally known as an 80s artist. His massively successful "Older" album in UK and international looks like a blip by comparison.

630M Careless Whisper
354M Faith
180M Freedom! 90
105M Father Figure
88M I Knew You Were Waiting For Me
82M Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
--
75M Fastlove
60M Jesus To A Child
 
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If you didn't know Kylie better you'd think she was a one hit wonder! Also BIZARRE that "In Your Eyes" is her 2nd most successful song.

292M Can't Get You Out Of My Head
51M In Your Eyes
47M Where The Wild Roses Grow
42M Love At First Sight
40M Spinning Around
39M Get Outta My Way
36M Lo-Comotion
36M All The Lovers

Kylie's numbers are skewed a bit by having different edits across different compilations. But it's not a massive skew.

A conversation needs to be had about that list.
 
If you didn't know Kylie better you'd think she was a one hit wonder! Also BIZARRE that "In Your Eyes" is her 2nd most successful song.

292M Can't Get You Out Of My Head
51M In Your Eyes
47M Where The Wild Roses Grow
42M Love At First Sight
40M Spinning Around
39M Get Outta My Way
36M Lo-Comotion
36M All The Lovers

Kylie's numbers are skewed a bit by having different edits across different compilations. But it's not a massive skew.

A conversation needs to be had about that list.
A Mopsy niche act.:(
 
One more from me for tonight

While Madonna and Prince are still seemingly playing catch up with digital audiences, MIchael Jackson continues to roll on...

1.2B Billie Jean
715M Beat It
454M Smooth Criminal
403M Thriller
348M Man In The Mirror
347M Dont Stop Til You Get Enough
319M Rock With You
309M The Way You Make Me Feel
285M PYT
232M Bad
222M They Dont Care About Us

Black Or White and Earth Song "only" on 163M and 88M respectively. Scream only 63M :(
 
Oh go on then. I'll do the Abba songs with more than 50m, although I have stolen it from ukmix (thanks Benny).


739m Dancing Queen
406m Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
318m Mamma Mia
253m The Winner Takes It All
211m Take A Chance On Me
187m Lay All Your Love On Me
186m Waterloo
181m Super Trouper
172m Chiquitita
112m SOS
107m Voulez-Vous
106m Fernando
104m Knowing Me Knowing You
100m Does Your Mother Know
91m Money Money Money
67m I Have A Dream
66m Angeleyes
62m One Of Us
61m Thank You For The Music
57m Honey Honey
54m Slipping Through My Fingers
52m Don't Shut Me Down
 
If you didn't know Kylie better you'd think she was a one hit wonder! Also BIZARRE that "In Your Eyes" is her 2nd most successful song.

292M Can't Get You Out Of My Head
51M In Your Eyes
47M Where The Wild Roses Grow
42M Love At First Sight
40M Spinning Around
39M Get Outta My Way
36M Lo-Comotion
36M All The Lovers

Kylie's numbers are skewed a bit by having different edits across different compilations. But it's not a massive skew.

A conversation needs to be had about that list.
In Your Eyes is only #2 if you ignore Santa Baby (168m) and Higher with Taio Cruz (59m).

And that Santa Baby figure really exposes the ridiculousness of streaming and chart sales. Because even as a Kylie loon who quite likes Christmas music, I don't think I've actively chosen to listen to her version of Santa Baby for many years. How many of those 168m were people actively seeking out that song, or even Kylie? At least for most of her back catalogue the figures would be driven by people seeking out either her, the song, or both.
 
It's definitely a HUGE reason

And I wonder if it’s not the reason to why Madonna and Mariah aren’t bigger than they should be. I feel like, apart from AIWFCIY, their big classic hits aren’t prominently featured as those by Michael Jackson or Whitney.
 
Oh go on then. I'll do the Abba songs with more than 50m, although I have stolen it from ukmix (thanks Benny).


739m Dancing Queen
406m Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
318m Mamma Mia
253m The Winner Takes It All
211m Take A Chance On Me
187m Lay All Your Love On Me
186m Waterloo
181m Super Trouper
172m Chiquitita
112m SOS
107m Voulez-Vous
106m Fernando
104m Knowing Me Knowing You
100m Does Your Mother Know
91m Money Money Money
67m I Have A Dream
66m Angeleyes
62m One Of Us
61m Thank You For The Music
57m Honey Honey
54m Slipping Through My Fingers
52m Don't Shut Me Down

In my somewhat limited knowledge the only oddity there seems to be Waterloo is quite low?
 
And I wonder if it’s not the reason to why Madonna and Mariah aren’t bigger than they should be. I feel like, apart from AIWFCIY, their big classic hits aren’t prominently featured as those by Michael Jackson or Whitney.

Why not though? Why wouldn’t Madonna feature as much on classic pop
Playlists as MJ and Whitney?
 
In my somewhat limited knowledge the only oddity there seems to be Waterloo is quite low?
I'm not sure really - it's not particularly a fan favourite. I'd definitely say all those above it are better regarded. And I don't think Eurovision Spotify playlists are a thing. Sadly.
 
This is a fun piece of trivia - The Beatles' biggest song in the modern era was never even a single.


838M Here Comes The Sun
522M Come Together
473M Let It Be
447M Hey Jude
425M Yesterday
This caused a bit of a gammony meltdown over on another forum where it was seen as evidence of utter fecklessness on the part of the "younger generation" who couldn't understand the genius of the Beatles and only wanted the 'simple' songs. What an absolute fucking crock. Here Comes The Sun is a great song with a tricky middle bit, lots of little bonus melodies in the instrumentation and a positive outlook that actually resonates with a wider audience - yes, it's been a long, cold and lonely winter but there is hope and the light will return. In this house we stan George Harrison, even if he did complete destroy the possibility of a Beatles reunion in 1974 by shagging Ringo's missus which was an absolute dick move.
 
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George Harrison is responsible for my favourite two Beatles songs in Here Comes The Sun and Something, even if I stereotypically prefer the versions by Nina Simone and Shirley Bassey respectively.
 
Bloody hell, Here Comes The Sun is NOT a simple song

If anything it’s a beautiful example of cream rising to the top over time. Younger generations (and I include our generation in that because we weren’t there either) have no context of what was a single or not in the 60s. A few “minor” Beatles songs have developed notoriety over the years for good reason.
 
Why not though? Why wouldn’t Madonna feature as much on classic pop
Playlists as MJ and Whitney?

Is there a way to compare individual songs by different artists? Where do Vogue, Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer, Hero stand compared to Billie Jean, I Wanna Dance..?
 
"Here Comes The Sun" is such a sublime song. I don't think I've ever heard a better version than the original - especially not BUNTON's with her KIDS WITTERING all over IT :evil:

George is a treat in The Beatles: Get Back if you've got the 8 hours spare to watch it.
 
Is there a way to compare individual songs by different artists? Where do Vogue, Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer, Hero stand compared to Billie Jean, I Wanna Dance..?

Well the latter 2 songs are on just over and just under 1B respectively. Madonna generally doesn’t come anywhere close. Yet.
 
This caused a bit of a gammony meltdown over on another forum where it was seen as evidence of utter fecklessness on the part of the "younger generation" who couldn't understand the genius of the Beatles and only wanted the 'simple' songs. What an absolute fucking crock. Here Comes The Sun is a great song with a tricky middle bit, lots of little bonus melodies in the instrumentation and a positive outlook that actually resonates with a wider audience - yes, it's been a long, cold and lonely winter but there is hope and the light will return. In this house we stan George Harrison, even if he did complete destroy the possibility of a Beatles reunion in 1974 by shagging Ringo's missus which was an absolute dick move.
I'm amazed they were even thinking about it in 1974! I'd always assumed it would never have happened until the 90s at the earliest.
 
I'm amazed they were even thinking about it in 1974! I'd always assumed it would never have happened until the 90s at the earliest.

The initial success of the 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations in 1973, particularly in the US was a factor but so was the end of their contract with Allen Klein. All 4 Beatles had experienced significant solo success, with McCartney having got himself on track at last with Band On The Run which reached #1 in the US in early '74 so egos had been satisfied. John and Paul met up socially on several occasions that year and Ringo managed to get the other three on the album he was recording that year. But Lennon was on his wayward "lost weekend" and pissed off everyone by trying to hand over Apple copyrights to Morris Levy to satisfy a dodgy agreement over lyrcis to Come Together being pinched from a Chuck Berry song, Harrison took a leaf out of his pal Eric Clapton's book and had it off with Maureen Starkey and the decision to dissolve their legal partnership over various ongoing lawsuits was the end of that.
 
The random flops with inexplicably high streaming numbers are the stats I enjoy most.

Britney Spears - "Criminal" 162m
Lana Del Rey - "Brooklyn Baby" 273m
Madonna - Bitch I'm Madonna 82m (the highest numbers for anything post "4 Minutes")
 
The random flops with inexplicably high streaming numbers are the stats I enjoy most.

Britney Spears - "Criminal" 162m
Lana Del Rey - "Brooklyn Baby" 273m
Madonna - Bitch I'm Madonna 82m (the highest numbers for anything post "4 Minutes")

I don’t know if it looks like this for everyone but I listen to Doin Time a lot and Brooklyn Baby usually gets a listen too because it comes right after.

AEE88D2A-5F74-4B90-AD68-7CF6351CE918.png
 
Angeleyes is currently no.3 on the ABBA front page. Apparently tied to some kind of Tik Tok thing.
 
Angeleyes is currently no.3 on the ABBA front page. Apparently tied to some kind of Tik Tok thing.
Yes, apparently it climbed from #21 to #17 on that list I posted above in the space of a month. And I assume a small part of the reason why Voulez-Vous was the only album to rechart a couple of weeks ago when all the picture discs were released.
 

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